Meaning & use
fly
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To move through the air, using wings or by traveling in an aircraft.
Grammar: No object: birds fly. With an object it means pilot or carry: fly a plane.
Patterns
- fly to somewhere
- fly something
- fly with someone
Geese fly south every autumn.
We flew to Rome last week.
She flies a small plane at weekends.
verbintransitivefigurative
To move or pass very quickly.
Grammar: No object; often with adverbs: time flies.
Patterns
- fly past
- fly out of something
Time flies when you are busy.
The door flew open in the wind.
nouncountable
A small insect with two wings, often found around food and rubbish.
Grammar: Countable: a fly; two flies.
Patterns
- swat a fly
A fly buzzed around the kitchen.
He waved the flies away from the fruit.
nouncountable
The opening at the front of trousers, or the flap covering it.
Grammar: Often a fly or the fly, sometimes plural flies in British English.
He checked that his fly was zipped.
The fly on these jeans has buttons.
Word forms
| third person singular | flies |
|---|---|
| past tense | flew |
| past participle | flown |
| -ing form | flying |
| plural (noun) | flies |
Common combinations
- fly a kite
- The children flew a kite on the beach.
- fly overseas
- They fly overseas every summer.
- time flies
- Time flies when you're having fun.
- fly away
- The bird flew away.
Synonyms and how they differ
- soar
- Suggests rising high with ease, not just traveling.
- glide
- Moving smoothly without flapping or power.
- dash
- Used for hurrying on the ground, not through the air.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: fly or flee?
fly vs flee
Flee means run away from danger; its past is fled, not flew.
Practice
Yesterday we ___ from London to New York.
Choose one answer.
Flew is the past tense of fly. Flown needs a helper like have, and flied is not standard.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.